One liberating silver lining to Republican Congressman Randy
“Duke” Cunningham’s pleading guilty to bribery charges is
that being a Vietnam war hero is no longer a lifetime
exemption from moral criticism.

When Jean Schmidt (R-OH) last Friday (Nov. 25) denounced
John Murtha’s (D-PA) call for retreat from Iraq on the floor
of Congress by reading a letter from a Marine asking her to
“ ‘send Congressman Murtha a message: That cowards cut and
run, Marines never do’,” she caused a riot that came close
to being a fistfight between elephant and jackass
Congresscritters.

Murtha, you see, is somehow invulnerable to criticism
because he served 37 years in the Marines and won a number
of medals in Vietnam. Howard Dean wasted no time in
announcing that a billboard would be erected by Democrats in
Portsmouth, Ohio (her disctrict headquarters), declaring:
“Shame on You, Jean Schmidt: Stop Attacking Veterans.”

John Murtha is a legitimate war hero – unlike John Kerry. He
won two real Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star in combat in
Vietnam. He deserves our admiration and respect for his
military service. Yet his being a war hero did not prevent
him from becoming a moral coward – and a crook in Congress.

OK – would you spend $80 million to make $1 billion? If you
did so, would you then claim you were ripped off?

You would if you were Jack Abramoff’s Indian tribe clients.

Everyone in America has now heard of the “infamous
super-lobbyist” Jack Abramoff. You’ve heard all about him,
but let me assure you that you know very, very little about
him – because the Democrat media wants it that way.

In a week where California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
appointed a hyper-leftwing pro-abortion lesbian “married” to
her “partner” as his chief of staff, and South Africa’s
Constitutional Court ordered Parliament to legalize
homosexual “marriage,” the moral sanity exhibited by the
Catholic Church was a welcome relief.

Pope Benedict is taking a moral stand, standing firmly
against the shrieking gales of limp-wristed liberalism. He
is determined not only to rid his church of pederastic
perverts, but is determined that his church is the moral
rock of St. Peter that it is supposed to be.

Chapter Sixteen: Xicotencatl – Young and Old

Malinali was stunned that Cortez was speaking this way
to the Tlaxcalan elders. She knew how close the
Spaniards were to giving up, how they feared another
attack. But… but… the Tlaxcalans did not know this. They
must have believed what she told the prisoners she had
set free! Yet how did Cortez learn of this? She had not
told him what she had done. It must be that Cortez was a
genio with people as Bernal said.

For Cortez’s words had the desired effect on the
Tlaxcalan chiefs. They bowed deeply, swore that Young
Xicotencatl would come, said that all Tlaxcala will
rejoice when the Malinche and his men will be at their
capital, and left looking relieved and satisfied.

Even more relieved and satisfied were the Spaniards.
With turkeys, maize cakes, cherries and other food in
abundance, plus the promise of no more attacks, the camp
was full of laughter – and no grumbling, not even from
de Grado. Cortez was pleased, and made sure everyone saw
he was – but he also made sure the patrols and scouts
continued, day and night, to search for danger. He had
no trust in this Young Xicotencatl.

In his speech at the Naval Academy Wednesday outlining
U.S. strategy in Iraq, President Bush paid tribute to
Marine Corporal Jeffrey Starr, killed in a fire fight in
Ar Ramadi April 30th. He was 22, on his third tour in
Iraq.

A letter to his girlfriend was found on Starr's laptop
computer:

"If you're reading this, then I've died in Iraq," Cpl.
Starr wrote. "I don't regret going. Everybody dies but a
few get to do it for something as important as freedom.
It may seem confusing why we're in Iraq; it's not to me.
I'm here helping these people so they can live the way
we live, not to have to worry about tyrants or vicious
dictators. Others have died for my freedom; now this is
my mark."

In a mammoth article in October taking note of the
2,000th U.S. death in Iraq, the New York Times mentioned
Cpl. Starr and his letter, but didn't quote the
passages above. All the Times quoted from his
letter was: "'I kind of predicted this,' Corporal Starr
wrote of his own death. 'A third time just seemed like
I'm pushing my chances.'"

The Times' omissions and distortions -- which are more
the rule than the exception in news coverage of Iraq --
explain why so many Americans think we're losing a war
we're plainly winning.

A reader of this column was kind enough to ask about
“the art of self-control,” the problem of: “I know what
to do, but I don’t make myself do it.” This is a problem
that perplexed the greatest thinker in history,
Aristotle.

Aristotle had a word for those who know good from bad
behavior, but who can get swept up toward the bad
behavior in the passion of desire and emotion. Repenting
afterwards, such a person has hope of changing his or
her behavior in the future. The word he used was
akrasia, “incontinent,” or “weakness of will.”
Those who do not repent their wrong acts, who engage in
them by choice he called “self-indulgent”.

In contrast, the person who is able to direct his
actions toward the good even in the face of passion he
calls “continent”, while the person who engages in right
acts by choice he calls “temperate” or virtuous.

These are all expressions of the failure or the triumph
of self-regulation.

The DDI remained up through the week. By the end of the
week, after a long run of bad days for the leftist
market movers, the market finally resolved upward. They
knew it had to go up, but they had so many bad days that
it was delayed over and over. When they finally had a
day without anything bad happening to the Lefties, the
pent up energy made the market roar upward.

On Monday, Randy “Duke” Cunningham pleaded guilty to
bribery etc., and made a tearful confession. He then
quit his position in the House of Representatives. His
crying on camera was all over the evening news. The
image of the “culture of corruption” was reinforced once
again. This was a great thing for the Lefties, and so
the market popped up overnight.

The up lasted only for the night as President Bush and
Donald Rumsfeld made their opinions heard on Iraq
Tuesday. Furthermore there was very good economic news:
Home sales were up, durable goods orders were up, and
consumer confidence had its biggest rise since 2003.
Good news for the economy is bad news for the Leftist
market movers and the market dropped sharply.

The Sage is a comprehensive dictionary/encyclopedia
with a completely integrated dictionary and thesaurus
that defines words, terms, concepts, historical events
and even has an anagram decrypter - with nearly
everything cross-referenced, allowing you to jump from
word to concept with just one click.

What's in a word? Well, according to The Sage, a word is
far more than the definition listed in the dictionary;
it's a lemma, which means that it really is a "topic" or
a chapter heading; for example, a word can be defined as
a part of speech (noun, verb), a hypernym (part of a
larger category), synonym, holonym, antonym (look them
up), or other type.

Israel, for example, is a country (hypernym), a part of
the Middle East (holonym), the home of Israelis (meronym)
and it can be defined in dozens of other ways.

One day a florist goes to a barber for a haircut. After
the cut he asked about his bill and the barber replies:
"I'm sorry, I cannot accept money from you; I'm doing
community service this week." The florist is pleased and
leaves the shop. Next morning when the barber goes to
open there is a thank you card and a dozen roses waiting
for him at his door.